My towing opinions after a few tows.

[NORDNDED]

After a few tows with the Gladiator my opinion on its worthiness has significantly changed. I was very skeptical on its ability to tow anything near what its rated for comfortably. I have made a 2k mile tow with my teardrop behind me from NC to NY/CN border and it pulls it just fine up to 70-75. It struggled a bit in the PA mountains but still kept up ok. It only weighs 2200 lbs but is very tongue heavy which the gladiators suspension doesn’t really like, its too bouncy for 320lbs of toungue weight and another 3-400 in the bed. I will be adding an Airlift airbag system to the rear whether I lift it or not as it made a huge difference in both my JKU and F150 in the handling while towing and in keeping it leveled out vs squatting in the rear. We averaged right around 12-13 mpg for this trip

Next up was the boat, a 22' Nautic Star. I probably will never tow it with the Gladiator again since I have an F150 but it actually did it just fine surprisingly. 65mph was where it preferred to be on the highway and it is dead flat or even downhill from Raleigh to Topsail Island NC, 120miles. Any hills of any size would have made it pretty slow and at redline the whole way but its doable. For reference the total package boat, motor, trailer etc comes in at about 5k lbs and the T-Top acts as a sail. Its the max I’d feel safe towing and honestly I’d prefer to keep it at around 4k lbs to feel safer and a bit less white knuckled in traffic. I got about 8mpg for this trip at 65mph, bump the speed up to 70mph and it dropped to 5-6mpg...

Anyhow, I’m impressed with it for what it is. The 8spd Makes a huge diff vs the previous 5spd and the engine seems a but more powerful also. I’ve noticed that under load, the alternator only puts out 12.7v, let off the gas and it’ll go up to 13.9 or so. Simple programming such as that gives this engine more usable power under load than models before so it truly does feel more powerful than the previous pentastar IMO. I also no longer have regrets about holding out for the diesel, the Pentastar is perfectly fine for my uses.

Now I'm debating on trying to tow my other boat, a 23' Sea Ray ski boat to Smith Mountain Lake in VA on Monday. It's probably about 1k heavier than the other boat and there are hills involved but no highways so its a bit slower going..

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[futzin']

Thanks for your thoughts. Would love to know the actual weights of your boats.

 

[Etoimos]

Thanks for the towing info. I'm still holding out for the diesel to see what kind of fuel range it gets along with (hopefully) better towing here in the CO mountains.

 

[smlobx]

Did you make it to SML?
I live here and will be looking out for ya!

 

[Bacstar]

After weekend trip towing my 3000+ lbs travel trailer, I decided I'll be getting some airbags for the gladiator as well. Same engine as my JGC, so pulling was just fine. It's squatted the back enough where on-coming traffic kept flashing me with their hi-beams as we drove past each other. At least, I can put off buying it until spring now that winter is coming, and the trailer will be going into hibernation.

 

[KVJ]

From another thread:

451, not 541. The Rubicon rear coil is a 451.

You're correct that the 445 is used on the Max Tow.

You can't get Rubicon with Max Tow package. Rubicon also has 30% less payload capacity.

The "rings" you noticed on the Max Tow coils are actually called "progressive rate coils". The purpose is to give you a smooth, comfy ride while the truck is empty, but a much higher load carrying capacity as the truck is loaded and the suspension begins to sag. Conversely, the Rubicon coils likely are either a fixed rate coil, or at best they don't have as many progressive coils in them. The purpose of those is to flex better while off-road and remain consistent in ride quality.

Thanks for posting your findings. This is helpful because a lot of guys want to know the difference between Rubicon and Max Tow. Clearly, Max Tow is built for work and Rubicon is built for driving trails.

Thought you may like to see why your sagging. My trailer have 240# tongue weight and rides smoother with the trailer hitched up and loaded with bikes and firewood. Sport S / Max Tow.

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